Restaurant: Contele Dracula ot Dambovita
Motto: Count Dracula would say, "Listen to them, the children of the night. What sweet music they make."Metropotam dined today in the chapel. In case you reckon he started having a heretical behavior, you are pretty close to the truth. Today we ate in Count Dracula’s den.
West of Dambovita River, across Natiunilor Unite passage, street number 8A, behind old walls covered in ivy, in the depths of chilly cellars dwells a prince that has risen against all odds for the love of his suicidal lady.
OK, let’s leave romance and soap stories aside for Coppola, as Bram Stoker would say if he was alive today, let's cut the Bela Lugosi nonsense.
As you come in, you face a fork in the road. If you take a right, you’re about to dine in a bloody atmosphere, under the classical portrait of Tepes Voda, the model for Bram Stocker’s hero. His picture is positioned in between who spears that seem quite authentic. If you decide to take a left, just change your mind.
The room has an Adams Family kids style: walls are baby blue, and the décor is taxidermist. Way in the back is the Hunter’s Saloon, with walls covered in bear clothes (a brown full one), a huge deer head and various other ex-living beings from the Transylvanian woods, probably victims of count’s appetite for hunting. A little frightening, but that’s not why we are here.
Our veins could hardly wait, so we descended through the alchemy bar (where Dracula is preparing his eternal-life recipies) on to the chapel… where we were left with our mouths open in surprise. A sinister (in the good way) combination of a medieval cellar and hardcore bordello: furniture made out of wrought iron, heart shaped pillows, everything covered in red. The designer really worked his magic.
While looking at the menu, we realized that someone tried his best to get the Dracula feel. Each dish is presented bilingually with quotes and references to Stoker’s book or Coppola’s film, with colorful, funny descriptions. We reckon it must take at least 10 minutes for each customer to make up his mind.
Here are some examples: sheep pemmican (22 lei) was served by Dracula’s personal cook to the ottoman messengers, right before they ended up on a stick themselves. Renfield’s food (30 lei) is a mystery dish presented as Renfield’s dungeon howl, with his mouth full of flies, bugs and a juicy piece of rat meat: “Blood is life!”
Diable chicken
Prices are medium: Van Helsing tray 24 lei, black rooster salad 19 lei, outlaw chicken 25 lei, mix grill 34 lei.
Count’s dishes are a little bit more pricey (50-70 lei) and so is the hunt: princely bear filé 68 lei, quail in blackberry sauce 42 lei. Cocktails are also pretty pricey, but their names make them worth it: Crucifix, Midnight’s Children – 23 lei.
Nobody home
In the profound silence of the den, at the table below the scary, open coffin, we were surprised to hear music. We were glad it wasn’t Gothic or pagan music, but a sort of Buena Vista, so that the Diable chicken (25 lei) could be fully enjoyed, especially with a Pasul Bargaului cup, a delicious dish made out of fruit so ripe that they seemed to be freshly picked by Dracula’s maidens.
fruit cup Pasul Bargaului, with a bloody jelly lip
It is a place you have to go at least once, to enjoy and eat well. If you are decided to do so, we advise you to pick either Tuesday, Friday or Saturday evenings – that’s when the count passes by and entertains his customers. Don’t forget to make a reservation (004-021-312.13.53) and be aware of the summer program, the restaurant opens at 16.00.
to be sure you’re not about to be bitten by fellow diners, the ceiling is covered by mirrors
When we left, looking back one last time at the snail traces on the walls (authentic?!) and iron handcuffs, a Celine Dion song just started - “we don’t say goodbye” - and thus we almost saw the dark prince fluttering his bat wings near Mina’s window, whispering with his white, thin lips “give me my peace”…
